Public Transit Policy, Analysis, Advocacy and Education
Newsletter of the Southern California Transit Advocates
Vol 5, No. 9, September 1997

Disclaimer: The Southern California Transit Advocates is not affiliated with any governmental agency or transportation provider. Names and logos of agencies appear for information and reference purposes only.

We gathered at the aquarium in the East Portal building below the Gateway Transit Plaza. Ironically we had to wait for stragglers delayed by late buses. Our group included President Gabbard, Vice-President Powell, Directors Moser and Capo plus members John Ulloth and Woody Rosner. Powell was chief planner and had been working out a tentative schedule. As a fact finding mission we wanted to focus on night attractions - areas with nightlife, businesses open late or 24 hours. A proposed trip to the Valley was turned down as too dull. Some further consultations resulted in a plan of action and we were off!

Our first transit vehicle was a Red Line car we boarded at about 8:30 p.m. which took us to Civic Center station. We made our way to the bus stop on 1st Street east of Hill where at 8:50 p.m. the group caught a northbound line 483. Ridership was fairly good as the bus was about 2/3 full as we traveled via the San Bernardino freeway busway to Pasadena, getting off at Fair Oaks and Colorado Blvd.

Old Town Pasadena on a Friday night was vibrant, sidewalks so crowded with pedestrians it was hard to walk to our stop along Colorado. This was just the sort of nightlife we hoped to witness! At 10:10 p.m. we caught a westbound line 181. Besides the 17 passengers already on board it picked up many more as it made its way to Hollywood. The level of activity at this hour was surprising given only 3 years ago a proposal was made to discontinue owl service on this line. We stayed on until Highland and Hollywood Blvd.

There was some life along Hollywood Blvd. but the contrast with the lively area we had just left was glaring. At 11:25 p.m. we boarded a westbound line 217 which had about 11 riders. Ridership was light on this line. We transferred at Fairfax and Wilshire to a westbound line 20 at 11:45 p.m. It also had a relatively light load of about 14 passengers. Just after midnight we got off at Westwood Blvd. and Wilshire.

Why were we in Westwood? Phil Capo had stated a special desire to ride the last line 2 that goes from there to downtown via the Sunset strip. In traversing an area well known for late night activity would a bus be especially active? So we took a break and snacked at the local Subway (which is about the only place open overnight in Westwood besides a nearby Thrifty).

At 1:24 a.m. we boarded an eastbound line 2 at LeConte and Westwood. To our disappointment ridership was light along Sunset, despite obvious signs of many lively night spots (clubs, cafes, etc.).

In downtown Los Angeles at 2:45 a.m. we caught a westbound line 4 at 7th and Broadway after having encountered nothing worse than a panhandler asking us for change while we waited there. It was an extremely busy bus, with many getting on and off as it made its way to Santa Monica. The line 33 eastbound we caught in Santa Monica at Santa Monica Blvd. and Ocean at 3:50 a.m. didn't have as much ridership as the line 4 but did fairly well. We had boarding with us a few persons who had also been on route 4 to the end of the line and who evidently ride the buses late at night mostly to stay off the street. It makes sense people doing so would target lengthy lines (such as 4 or 33) to minimize how often they must get on and off.

By now we were quite tired out (Woody had already dropped out) and as a final trip we caught at 5:15 a.m. an eastbound 70 at 7th and Spring, which had moderate ridership. I could barely keep my eyes open. At El Monte station Pat Moser caught a line 483 to take him home and Charles Powell decided to drive home in the car he had parked there. The tattered remnants (Gabbard, Capo and Ulloth) gratefully boarded an express 484 at 6:15 a.m. and were whisked back to downtown Los Angeles to go our separate ways, gladden by the knowledge that we had survived the endurance challenge - we had ridden buses ALL NIGHT LONG!